Hasta La Gadget!

With a single statement that’s no more than three sentences long, AT&T has given what essentially amounts to a fair warning to U.S. regulators that they will not have an easy time approving of Softbank’s acquisition of Sprint. Having failed at their own acquisition of T-Mobile in the USA earlier this year, it would appear that AT&T isn’t going to let the Japanese carrier Softbank work with Sprint without letting them know they’re watching them closely. With what AT&T says here, a clear message is sent directly to the FCC saying how the USA doesn’t take kindly to outsiders buying up their market – so to speak.

The statement is not an objection to what Softbank and Sprint are doing – and yet is really, really is. Have a peek at what AT&T says to the groups and the regulators that will be in charge of approving (or denying) the deal in the long run. Notice how simple – and yet powerful – each carefully constructed statement is.

“Softbank’s acquisition of Sprint and the control it gains over Clearwire will give one of Japan’s largest wireless companies control of significantly more U.S. wireless spectrum than any other company. We expect that fact and others will be fully explored in the regulatory review process. This is one more example of a very dynamic and competitive U.S. wireless marketplace, which is an important fact for U.S. regulators to recognize.” – AT&T vice president Brad Burns

The deal earlier this year which would have at AT&T purchasing T-Mobile and its spectrum from German company Deutsche Telekom was shut down due to a wide variety of reasons, not least of all because regulators saw the deal as a sort of monopoly – you can own too much, in other words. Here AT&T doesn’t want to let a deal go through that would sneak up and bite them from behind, especially since it mirrors their own situation so closely.

There will be a set of debates surrounding the regulation of this sale for certain, with both the USA and Japan needing to approve such a massive deal as the majority purchase of Sprint by Softbank here in 2012. Likely we will not see a conclusion to this situation before the end of the year – or if we do, it’ll be an end indeed, rather than a go-ahead.

AT&T carefully objects to Softbank’s Sprint deal is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Japanese carrier Softbank has confirmed it is acquiring a majority share in Sprint, in a deal worth $20.1bn expected to be closed by mid-2013. The deal, rumored last week, will see Softbank pay $12.1bn to Sprint’s existing shareholders to snap up the struggling US CDMA carrier, with the remaining $8bn used to “strengthen Sprint’s balance sheet.” The acquisition will see Softbank attempt to bring some Japanese-style LTE magic to Sprint’s network in the US, with current CEO Dan Hesse remaining on in his position.

A new company, New Sprint – fully owned by a Softbank holding company, unimaginatively named HoldCo – will be created to actually purchase the carrier. Post-transaction, Softbank’s HoldCo will own approximately 79-percent of Sprint, and the formerly publicly-traded Sprint will own around 30-percent of New Sprint.

Sprint’s headquarters will remain in Overland Park, Kansas, and three members of the current board will be carried over to a new, 10-member board of directors. If the deal fails because Softbank’s financing doesn’t come through, it must pay Sprint $600m; the same sum must be paid if Sprint goes on to accept a better offer from another company. If Sprint’s shareholders don’t agree on the deal, meanwhile, the carrier must pay “up to $75m” in contribution to Softbank’s expenses.

“This is a transformative transaction for Sprint that creates immediate value for our stockholders, while providing an opportunity to participate in the future growth of a stronger, better capitalized Sprint going forward. Our management team is excited to work with SOFTBANK to learn from their successful deployment of LTE in Japan as we build out our advanced LTE network, improve the customer experience and continue the turnaround of our operations” Dan Hesse, CEO, Sprint

Post-transaction, Softbank will have “one of the largest mobile internet companies in the world” and have “one of the largest” combined subscriber bases between the US and Japan. Combined service revenue will be third highest in the world. Softbank says it will “leverage its deep expertise in smartphones and next-generation mobile networks, and its track record of success in competing in mature markets with large incumbents, to enhance Sprint’s competitiveness in the US.”

More details here [pdf link].

Softbank buys 70% of Sprint in $20.1bn deal is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It looks like our second report on rumors of Softbank of Japan picking up a stake in Sprint for $19 billion is far closer than our first attempt that touched on a $12.8 billion purchase, considering how it is now official – Softbank of Japan will fork out a cool $20 billion to purchase up to a 70% stake in Sprint, according to Business Insider. The deal will be officially announced on Monday as well, reports CNBC. Just what is the breakdown in cost for the $20 billion? Well, $8 billion will go to the amount of shares directly from Sprint, while the remaining $12 billion will be used to purchase shares from the public. This particular deal will not require a shareholder vote due to the deal’s structure. As to the repercussions (if any) of this in the mobile industry, it is hard to tell – we will just have to sit back and wait. I wonder if Sprint’s CEO, Daniel Hesse, will start looking elsewhere as chances are he will have different a “boss” to report to, so to speak.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Softbank reportedly looking to acquire MetroPCS as well, Softbank might just purchase a stake in Sprint,

Welcome to Friday, folks. The weekend is here once again, and what better way to kick off the festivities than with a Windows 8 purchase? The new OS went up for pre-order today, while a number of other Windows 8-related stories were popping up all over the place. For instance, we found out that the marketing campaign for Windows 8 cost Microsoft a whopping $1.5 billion, and a collection of HP computers were spotted running Windows 8 on the show floor of one Best Buy store in Minnesota.

Dell is getting in early on the Windows 8 action, opening up pre-orders for a handful of new machines today, and we learned that a staggering 6 billion people around the world are now using a mobile phone of some type. A leaked T-Mobile release roadmap gives us an idea of when the carrier expects to receive a bunch of different devices, including the Windows Phone 8X. We received a rather in-depth look at an LG Nexus prototype today, and LG delivered a brand new Optimus G “product movie” that aims to get us familiar with the new handset’s features. Netflix released a Windows 8-compatible version of its app today, just ahead of the launch of the OS.

Google could be headed for an antitrust case from the FTC, and it seems that the Apple Maps controversy hasn’t done much to damage consumer enthusiasm for the iPhone 5. Speaking of the iPhone 5, Apple’s latest mobile offering has managed to overtake the Samsung Galaxy S III in web traffic despite being available for a much shorter amount of time, and Google is getting the Play Store ready for the holiday rush. SoftBank is looking to secure $23 billion to buy a majority stake in Sprint, and industry insiders are claiming that the long-rumored iPad Mini will be revealed on October 23 – just a couple weeks from now.

Star Citizen has already managed to raise an absurd $500,000 in funding, while Borderlands 2 was seen outshining its predecessor in a pretty significant way. We learned that the games industry is still on the decline, and ASUS unveiled a brand new Windows 8 VivoBook today. Amazon is now posting a disclaimer about the Kindle Paperwhite’s backlighting, YouTube is rethinking the way it ranks videos for search results, and Anonymous has cut ties with Wikileaks after the website started restricting access and asking visitors for donations.

Finally tonight, we have an unboxing and hands-on with the Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD for you to check out, and Chris Burns tells us why every little piece of Apple news seems to matter so much these days. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, here’s hoping that this weekend is a good one!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 12, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yesterday we reported that word on the street was that Japanese carrier, Softbank, was looking to purchase a majority stake in Sprint which was worth about $12.8 billion. Now it seems that there are reports which has suggested that Softbank is not only eyeing Sprint, but possibly MetroPCS as well. It seems like everyone wants a piece of MetroPCS lately, what with Deutsche Telekom having made an offer for T-Mobile USA to acquire MetroPCS, and with the rumors that Sprint could be interested in MetroPCS as well.

While the Sprint/MetroPCS deal has yet to be official, Softbank has confirmed that they are in talks with Sprint although the deal has yet to be finalized. When asked about the reports of their interest in MetroPCS, Softbank’s spokesperson said that they had no comment on the matter. In any case it looks like Softbank could be on a buying spree as they announced earlier this month that they would be buying their domestic rival, eAccess for a whopping $2 billion. Either way it will be exciting to see what sort of changes Softbank can introduce to Sprint or MetroPCS should the deal go through.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Softbank might just purchase a stake in Sprint, Japan’s Softbank reportedly looking to purchase majority stake in Sprint for $12.8 billion,